Are there Generational Curses in the New Testament?
Worth noting in the New Testament, there is no individual trying to curse another as in the Old Testament. There is more emphasis on not cursing others and to bless them that curse you. Jesus more than anyone else dealt with demonic cases and yet in all the records there is not one hint of “generational curses.” Indeed the one time that Jesus could have easily taught about the matter in John 9:1-3, Jesus made it clear that the “curse” had nothing to do with the past. This leads me to ask the question as to whether the emphasis that has developed on generational curses in the last few decades is real or imagined. Is it the latest fad, of which we have had so many in the past years, or is there clear Biblical teaching that shows that we are experiencing today an unprecedented revival in these areas? Twenty years ago you hardly heard about them, today just about everyone has a generational curse according to some Bible teachers.
What was Paul talking about in Galatians 3 in regards to curses? Was he talking about any curse, a generational curse or what? Interestingly these verses are very specific and what verse 10 tells us has to do with those who are seeking to live by the works of the Mosaic Law. We can even go further than this because Paul was using it to show the Galatians that having begun their life in the liberty of the Spirit, they were no longer living that way. By going back to the Old Testament Law of Moses and trying to keep it, they were calling down a curse on their lives.
In other words because of what the individual was doing, not because of what their ancestors had done they were calling down a curse. No one can be justified by the Ten Commandment Law or the Mosaic Law, for it is impossible for anyone but Christ to render perfect obedience to either law and so all would be under a curse, but Christ redeemed them from that curse in that He became the curse and fulfilled the sacrificial law, thus they could walk in the Spirit and be free to know the blessing of Abraham. However, if they chose not to live that way they would be calling a curse on themselves, very different from a generational curse.
Am I saying then that there are absolutely no instances in the New Testament where someone from a previous generation caused a curse to come on a living person? Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. As there are not too many Scriptures in the New Testament where the word curse or cursing appears, I have categorised them below.
Give blessing when cursed by another person - Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:28, Romans 12:14
Curses concerning Simon Peter - Matthew 26:74, Mark 14:71
Curse upon you, living being or an object by the Lord - Matthew 15:4, Mark 7:10, Mark 11:21, Acts 23:12, 14, James 3:9, 10
Curse of works of law - John 7:49, Galatians 3:10
Christ redeems us from curse of works of law - Galatians 3:13, Revelation 22:3
Judgement for deeds or lack of - Matthew 25:41, Romans 3:14, Hebrews 6:8, 2 Peter 2:14
Curses from disbelief or preaching wrong Gospel - 1Corinthians 12:3, 1Corinthians 16:22, Galatians 1:8-9
Curses, separated from Christ - Romans 9:3
Every one of these Scriptures is to do with a living person either affected by their own actions as they live or another living person. Not one is cursed from a former member of their family as in this false generational curse ministry.
Are there Consequences for having Ancestors in Freemasonry?
As discussed previously, Exodus 20:3-6, which is re-quoted by Moses in Deuteronomy 5:7-10 are the key verses quoted regarding false teachings on generational curses and breaking them, so we will clarify further on these verses and make a few more important comments about them.
The context here is that people worship and serve other gods. The result very importantly is not an automatic curse - in fact, the word curse does not appear in these verses at all - but that the Lord is “visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the third and the fourth generations of those that hate Me.” (NASB) Note: The key point being “those that hate God.”
Does this say that there is an automatic curse on future generations because one member of the family took part in Freemasonry or was a Freemason? No! What does it say then? Here are several very important points for us to notice.
- There are two qualifications in order for a person to come under this punishment. First, to worship or serve other gods but also to be a person that hates or rejects God. Unless you qualify on both counts this so called generational curse teaching or breaking generational curses does not apply to you.
- Indeed the next verse underlines this where the Lord will show loving kindness to thousands who love Him and keep His Commandments.
- It is the Lord who does the visiting; it is not an AUTOMATIC punishment. It is what He does, not what membership or organization you belong to, or even what the Devil does, but it is what God does.
- He is not saying how or what He will do but simply that He will visit or punish them for their sins. You can therefore never claim that a particular act is always the way God punishes because it does not tell us that and God is sovereign to punish, but also to forgive.
Exodus 34:6-7 or Numbers 14:18 are nearly always quoted in the same breath as the one above but again there is nothing here to say that there is an automatic curse or judgement because someone has joined a particular group or committed a particular sin. Indeed this is the Lord speaking about Himself and before He comes to the judgmental side, He talks of forgiveness and loving kindness and only then visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the third and fourth generations and as said earlier this is the origin of this false and unnecessary generational curse ministry. Again in the context of the love of God it means that it is neither certain or automatic. It will happen because God is a righteous and a jealous God, but even in judgement, He remembers mercy and His judgements are just, not automatic retribution.
Children of the Righteous are sanctified
Some teachings say that you can bring your whole family into bondage or those so called generational curses by your own mistake. The following scriptures show us that the children of the righteous are sanctified.
- 1 Corinthians 7:14 “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they Holy.”
- Acts 16:30-31 “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
- Luke 17:26-29 “And as it was in the days of Noah, (A Covenant man and His family were saved) so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; (A Covenant man and His family were saved) they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”
- Psalms 103:17 “But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children.”
False Teachings on Curses
With what we have learned already from this study of the Scriptures, it will not be difficult to see the error of contemporary teachings on generational curses and breaking them. They uniformly claim that putting one’s faith in Christ alone does not break these curses. Something more is necessary. It is this “something more” that refutes everything that the Bible says about the matter and makes these teachings insidious. Both the Galatian and Colossian heresies were similar in that they claimed something more had to be added to the finished work of Christ for Christians to have fullness or to be pleasing to God.
Modern false teachers promote the same errors. For example, Neil Anderson teaches, based on the Exodus 20:4-5, that demons are passed from generation to generation and that these demons have ground in the lives of Christians because of generational sins and hence all the teaching on breaking generational curses.
To get the curse of these demonic strongholds out of their lives, Christians supposedly need to find out what they are, use utterances (called prayers in the book) to break them, and need counsellors with special knowledge of these things if they are severe cases. The words that are to be repeated are provided, including, “I cancel out all demonic working that may have been passed on to me from my ancestors… I cancel every curse that Satan and his workers have put on me… I reject all other blood sacrifices whereby Satan may claim ownership of me.”
These utterances (I would call them incantations) sound very pious and references to Christ and the cross are even given. However, there are obvious problems. One is that Exodus 20:4-5 says nothing about Satan or demons. It was God who punished covenant breakers. Another problem is that according to Colossians 2:10 we are already complete in Christ and that the principalities and powers that dominated us before we met Christ were disarmed through the cross. The reason was that the true power they had over us, our sinfulness in respect to God’s law, was taken away. Neil Anderson teaches that the demons have strongholds in our lives as Christians until we gain knowledge and command the evil spirits to go. These spirits supposedly have their places in us because of ancestral sins. Let me point out a problem with this: if the cross is the basis of victory, which Anderson admits, then why would God leave us in demonic bondage after we come to know Jesus through the cross? That is, unless we gain revelation knowledge and say the right prayers and utterances. We supposedly need Christ plus knowledge and some religious process to gain victory over the forces that are deemed to stand between us and completeness in Christ.
A fellow traveller of Anderson’s, Mark Bubeck has gone to even wilder extremes and now has a prayer to get demons off all parts of the body: “I ask You to look all through the sexual organs and function of my body for any evil spirit activity… I ask that the Holy Spirit would search out all my bones, blood circulation, nerve circuitry, muscles, tissues, glands, hair, skin and every cell for any wicked spirit activity against my physical body. Evict any afflicting, evil powers totally away from my body.” I am sure most teenagers would agree there is a demon under every pimple. Anyone who maintains that Anderson’s and Bubeck’s teachings are biblically sound needs to be able to define what the Bible does teach about demons and the believer. Gil Rugh summarizes: “Believers cannot be possessed by demons. Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit indwells us and is greater than the devil who is in the world… The Scripture is clear on this matter. Christ’s work was sufficient. There is no further deliverance that must take place. If there were, salvation in Christ would be incomplete. If the church would stop and think through its theology of Scripture we would realize that something is drastically wrong with what is being promoted by those who teach that believers can be demonised.”
Another teacher who has written a popular book on spiritual curses is Derek Prince. He also quotes Exodus 20 to show that generational curses are operating in the lives of Christians. He writes: “A person who comes from such a background is heir to a curse that may be compared to a weed planted in his life, linking him to satanic forces outside himself. This weed has two kinds of roots: one long taproot going straight downward, and other less powerful lateral roots. The taproot represents the influence of ancestors who worshiped false gods.” It is true that the Bible calls occult activity a serious sin and that God judges idolaters and occult practitioners. The problem arises when we are told that coming to Christ under the terms of the New Covenant still leaves these curses operating in our lives unless something more is done. His error here is, he writes, “Before he can enjoy true liberty and the fullness of the new creation in Christ, this weed must be completely pulled out, with all its roots.” He then quotes Matthew 15:13 about the pulling out of weeds that the Father has not planted. This passage is in the context of the disciple’s discussion of the Pharisee’s being offended by Jesus’ teaching. The disciples were told “let them alone.” God would root those plants (the Pharisees) out Himself. This has nothing to do with removing of curses that are supposedly still operating in Christian’s lives. At issue is whether coming to Christ in faith and fully trusting His finished work removes us from being under the curse of sin or whether it does not. If it does, then God is not going to allow demons to work in our lives because of unknown sins of ancestors. We were all cursed by ancestral sin, that of Adam, 1 Corinthians 15:22. But if we are in Christ, the curse of sin is removed and so this teaching on breaking generational curses becomes a distraction from real issues.
Another book by Ron G. Campbell in his book “Free from Freemasonry” wrote the following: “The authority structure we want to focus on here as it relates to curses is the family, particularly the role of the father. Take the example of a father trying to be the priest of the home. He is the “spiritual covering” and provides an umbrella of spiritual protection over his family and loved ones. When the father is disobedient and sins, the umbrella of protection is ripped. Through that rip, the adversary is then able to saturate with oppressive storms in the form of demonic curses those under this father’s authority and protection. According to Ephesians 4:27, when we sin, we open the door, or provide an entry point, for Satan. Essentially, we give him permission to oppress our loved ones. Through the unrighteousness of one in spiritual authority over others, curses can now visit to the third and fourth generation.” Is this really true? Every time the father sins Satan can do what he likes to the family or does God abdicate? Where is this taught? When he confesses that sin, does that mean the protection is put back? Does Ephesians 4:27 teach this? In a word, No, because it is not dealing with the family but rather the individual and it certainly does not say that Satan can do whatever he likes but rather that he has an opportunity, but it is no more specific than that. See 1 John 5:18.
Campbell calls this authority-engendered curse: “Exodus 34 tells us that curses pass to the third and fourth generations. Suppose a man commits the sin of idolatry. Further suppose that he and each of his descendants for four generations have three children each. This adds up to 40 descendants who will come under the curse of that one man’s iniquity. Each person, by going backward on this generational chart, again has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents and 16 great-great grandparents. This provides a total of 30 ancestors from whom curses could possibly have filtered down upon us. These are the curses that I call generational curses, and it’s not unlikely that many of us are experiencing them rather than blessings because one or more of these ancestors have unwisely opened the door to our adversary.”
What happened to the millions of people who would have had such a supposed curse in the previous two thousand years before this un-Biblical generational curse teaching was introduced by someone who listened to the wrong spirit? If the above was true, can you imagine your chance of not being cursed! And yet again it is ignored that we still read the clear statement that Christ redeemed us from these curses which were from God and not Satan. More positively, as God’s blessing goes a thousand generations, do the maths for your chances of being blessed by God!
Finally, in this contradiction of terms he also wrote: “The Hammonds remind us of a very important concept about deliverance from curses. They suggest that salvation does not automatically free us from curses, for many of God’s children remain under curses even after they are born again. Why? They have not appropriated Christ’s redemption from the curses. Jesus died for all, but all are not saved. To come to salvation, a person must repent of his or her sin and appropriate-or claim-the blood of Jesus. Although Christ is the remedy for generational curses, we must personally repent for the sin that brought the curses and then renounce the curses and appropriate His blood over these curses.” Once again one must ask why the contradiction? If the root of the curse is sin as is clearly shown above then once sin has been dealt with then the curse, the consequence must also be dealt with. If Christ became the curse, then when we accept that and believe it, the curse must be broken. Why do we make things more complicated than the Scriptures ever did? Why do we want to make doctrines fit our thinking instead of allowing our thinking to be moulded by His doctrine? Ezekiel chapter 18 says now that we are not under the Mosaic Law; we are accountable for our own sins. Didn’t we repent of all our previous sin when we accepted Christ?
One more example of this insidious teaching should show how wide spread it is. Rebecca Brown and Daniel Yoder write, “Sadly, we have found that very few Christians have any knowledge of those things that the Lord proclaims to be unclean. Thus their lives and homes are cluttered with unclean things which enable curses and cursing into their lives.” They claim we need revelations and special knowledge to get free from these curses and that Satan has legal rights to curse Christians and send demons our way if we do certain things wrong. Among them are such things as “living on cursed ground, living in cursed housing, having cursed objects,” and many others. Even circumstances beyond our control may leave Christians cursed. The subtitle for this book is “Hidden source of trouble in the Christian’s life.” Any problems we may have could be caused by unknown curses, and it is our lack of revelation knowledge that is supposedly destroying us. As with all of these types of false teachings, the Christian is left with no hope or assurance. We may be victim of unseen forces and curses no matter what our relationship with Christ is. They define the problem so that everyone is included, deny that accepting Christ effectively removes the curse, and then propose their knowledge and their therapeutic processes is the answer. Remember that 1 John 5:18 says that God protects the person who has been born of Him and the evil one cannot touch them.
Generational Curse or not Generational Curse?
Hereditary
Some believe that if their parents have some kind of illness and that they get the same illness that this is a generational curse. Since generational curses came from God, and we are no longer living under law but are under grace, then this can’t be so, and God does not allow Satan to inflict such harm on his children. So, if the illness is not a curse then what is it? I think that most people would agree that there is plenty of very strong evidence to say that it is just what it is, i.e.; a hereditary illness as a result of defective or bad genetic code. As defective or missing genes are physical, one should ask for healing and for the DNA to be corrected as God intended it to be. It does not really matter which of these ways you choose to handle it, as God always knows exactly what you need before you even ask him. Prayers should not be ritualistic but from the heart. Matthew 6:7-8 says, “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.”
The other hereditary aspect is that it can be clearly seen that one’s children have certain character traits of the parents e.g.; your child has your eyes, or has your bad temper or your gift of teaching. The behaviour of your children can certainly be hereditary and or the result of exposure to negative influences and good or bad teaching. Proverbs 22:6 reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” If one’s parents had a tendency to be interested in spiritual things and got involved in witchcraft there would be a chance one or more of their children could have the same interest as a hereditary result. If the parents eventually saw the light and turned to God, likewise the children would most likely do the same with the proper upbringing. Of course, with the right Christian upbringing, they would surely go straight to God. Such hereditary things do not fit the definition of the word curse.
Lifestyle
I sometimes wonder if hereditary illness is a result of not looking after our bodies properly with good nutrition and avoiding chemical additives in foods, or the results of nuclear accidents which can certainly cause deformities. God did not intend us to leak radiation into the atmosphere by atomic testing or nuclear power plant disasters or to feed our bodies with chemical cocktails. God expects us to look after the bodies he has given us, 1 Corinthians 6:19. This however cannot be the whole story since the Bible mentions people being born with problems such as being blind or crippled, and there were obviously no chemicals or nuclear radiation in biblical days. Note: John 9:1-3 also tells us that a man born blind had nothing to do with his sins or his parents.
Consider that if your father had high cholesterol and heart problems and you also grow up to have the same problems, that this is not necessarily hereditary in the true sense of the word. It could be referred to as generational in the perspective that your parents had a diet high in animal fats, and so developed high cholesterol and heart problems. Since you grew up on the same diet and became accustomed to this style of eating, that you also ended up with the same health problems. Here is a so-called generational situation that could be fixed just by correcting one’s nutrition. Such health problems are not a curse, but the consequences of bad lifestyle.
Bad Habits
An earnest young woman approached her pastor prior to the Sunday morning service: “Pastor, would you pray for me?” He asked if there was something of particular concern. “Yes,” she replied, “I need deliverance from an ancestral curse.” “No,” the pastor assured her, “you do not have an ancestral curse.” “But, Pastor, you don’t understand,” she continued, “my dad had a violent temper, and I am also bothered by a bad temper.” The pastor explained that although she was reacting as her father had, it was learned behaviour and the teaching concerning ancestral curses is not scriptural. He reminded her that outbursts of wrath are one of the works of the flesh, and the Holy Spirit gives power to overcome it. Galatians 5:16-20. The young woman was relieved and happy as the truth had set her free.
I suppose one could say that the previous dietary example is an example of a bad habit in the sense that the children took on the bad eating habits of the parents and suffered the consequences. However, what we are going discuss here is more along the lines of parents that have bad habits like bad language or negative transference, such as constantly telling their child that he or she is stupid or hopeless. After many years of hearing such things, children could choose to eventually believe them. They may now need prayer and counselling to be delivered from what they have now accepted as being truth. If this were a curse, prayer would be the only solution for deliverance. As this is not the case then good counselling on its own could suffice. However, combined with prayer would obviously be the ultimate choice.
When we ponder parental influence, we understand why some believe people can be victims of ancestral curses or so called generational curses. One cannot overestimate the power of parental example. The chance to shape the character of a new human being is an inestimable privilege and an awesome responsibility. Parents can make a home a place of peace and happiness or a living hell. We should also note that bad habits are not always learned from our parents. They can also be learned from friends we spend a lot of time with. Could these be curses? No, they are just simply bad habits. God does not allow Satan to bring harm to us because of what our parents or friends have done. The good news is exposure to and practising good behaviour can also create good habits!
A Negative Perspective
People have also said that generational curses such as Freemasonry could exist because, since we are still suffering the results of Adam’s sin, therefore why can’t curses come upon us from our ancestors also? If this theory is true, then it is most likely that we would suffer the consequences of sin of not only Adam, but also every single person in between. I hope this is not so, or we will be spending the rest of our earthly life in prayer and deliverance for them all!
God said to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:16-19 “I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth” and he said to Adam “Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.” However in Genesis 8:21 God says “And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” God clearly tells us what the curses were as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin, and there is no mention of it including suffering the consequences of the sins of our ancestors.
Romans 5:17-19 GNB says, “It is true that through the sin of one man (Adam) death began to rule because of that one man. But how much greater is the result of what was done by the one man, Jesus Christ! All who receive God’s abundant grace and are freely put right with him will rule in life through Christ. 18 So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life. 19 And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.”
Paranoia
People have told me that they have had prayer just in case there was something to this breaking generational curse business. There is certainly nothing in the Bible to support the need for it, or any incident of Jesus dealing with anything like this. No Christian should have to suffer the effects of any curse, generational or otherwise. If you believe they will affect you, they will. When someone says you need to be delivered from a generational curse and they pray over you, you might “feel” delivered (even though there was no curse anyway). But over time you might not be sure anymore, especially if you start seeing evidence of the so-called curse again. Next thing you know, you will be going for another “deliverance prayer.” Such a pattern only leads to bondage. The devil will have successfully robbed you of your righteousness consciousness and now you won’t be able to pray with confidence. Our prayers are answered because of Jesus’ righteousness, not because of our family or because we are good people or do good things. Many of these so called deliverance ministries feed on such people and Satan gets all the victory as this person is robbed of their peace and joy they found in Christ. These generational curse ministries are one of the many tools of the enemy.
Demonic Oppression?
Other people that had trouble in their life, which was similar or the same as their parents or grandparents had been for prayer and deliverance and have found that their problems had gone, and so believed that it was a generational curse, even though there is no real scriptural backing to support this. The most likely reason for this is again simply Matthew 6:7-8 i.e.; God knew exactly what they needed even if they were praying for deliverance from something that was not the problem, does not exist, or no longer happens. Christ has set us free! Generational curses are gone and forgotten.
Let’s just say for a moment that curses or these so called generational curses as a result of Freemasonry or otherwise do happen, then we must accept that it is demonic in origin, as Christ has redeemed us from God’s curse. As a person lived to 75-100 on average, they would see the results of their sin on their descendants down to the third or fourth generation before they died of old age. So we can see the reason to why God punished to the third and fourth generation. But what about Satan? He wants nothing but harm to befall us and would delight in cursing us.
So if we are saying that we do not come under the covering of the blood of Jesus, and the Devil can bring the consequences of our ancestor’s involvement in Freemasonry onto us, then how many generations will Satan go back? As he intends only harm, if God allowed Satan to do this he would go back as far as he wants! Ultimately that would be Adam, or does God put a limit on how far back he can go? Wouldn’t that mean every single person would be cursed and need generational curse deliverance? As this is all nonsense and not scriptural, your guess is as good as mine!
Let’s try another nonsense scenario for a moment. Let’s ignore that Christ has redeemed us, and say that generational curses are from God. As it only applied to those that hated or rejected God and He blesses and lavishes his love to a thousand generations that love him, then does that mean the curse stops as soon as it hits a generation that love him? Does that mean we do not even have to accept Christ into our lives to not be cursed? What do you think? These last two examples have been included just to give one something to ponder.
What we must not do
We cannot state that generational curses (Freemasonry or otherwise) exist just because we think we have seen the result, or deliverance from one. We must continue to measure the truth we believe by the unchangeable standard of the written word of God. Experience based knowledge that does not line up with the Bible always puts down the goodness of God who has indeed provided us with “everything we need for life and godliness through the full knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3. Let us rely on what He has provided and not on any experiences that mislead us. If deliverance is needed, why didn’t Jesus have to deal with it? This ministry has been left un-dealt with for centuries and has only recently been taught. Our loving Father would not have left us at the mercy of Satan without any Biblical teaching to combat something that supposedly exists, to what appears to now be end times?
2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” All means ALL, not what we want to include or exclude. The moment we start to ignore this we are bound to end up in real trouble. Since Proverbs 26:2 says that an “undeserved curse does not come to rest,” so then consider the following. Is suffering the consequences of what our ancestors have done deserved? Should we just ignore this scripture because we think we see generational curses? Ignoring all relevant scriptures and other factors for the moment, doesn’t this one verse say we do not suffer an undeserved curse from our ancestors? The answer to these questions seems clear. There is no support for breaking generational curses in the Bible whatsoever.
If we decide that things are happening that are not in God’s word because of prayers that have been prayed, and results we believe we have seen, then I guess we’re free to create just about anything we want. Let’s face it, even if it’s not in God’s word, if we think we have seen the results of it, then let’s conclude it must be true. Therefore, we can write books on it, make a name for ourselves and progressively introduce some new un-Biblical ministry into the Church.
Galatians 1:9 reads, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed.” So what does this scripture say about people who say Christ has not redeemed us from generational curses? See Galatians 3:13.
As much as scripture clearly shows we do not have curses on us due to the consequences of our ancestors or curses that are spoken against us, I do believe that what people call self-curses are possible, although again this is not proper terminology. God may not protect us if we are foolish enough to keep speaking negative things on ourselves. We must be very careful of what we say about ourselves as I do believe scripture shows us that by speaking negative things about yourself that you could open a doorway for Satan to have some control in your life you would not want him to have. Proverbs 21:23 reads, “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” See also Proverbs 13:3, 16:23 and 18:7.
Ephesians 4:27 reads, “Give no opportunity to the devil.” So guard your tongue and give Satan no opportunity to have any control in your life in this manner. If you have been speaking negative things about yourself, I suggest repenting and asking God to forgive you. This does not include idle negative words not really meant. That thinking becomes more of the occult than Biblical.
Conclusion
We serve a mighty God who knows all our needs. If we pray incorrectly, God is not going to take the attitude that because we are asking incorrectly, and we have not heard what He is telling us, that our suffering can continue. He will meet our needs and answer our prayer regardless. Ultimately we must believe that God’s Word is true and complete. See 2Timothy 3:16 and Galatians 1:8.
Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible for Galatians 1:8 reads, “If your false teachers pretend, as many in early times did, that they received their accounts by the ministry of an angel, let them be accursed; separate them from your company, and have no religious communion with them. Leave them to that God who will show his displeasure against all who corrupt, all who add to, and all who take from the word of his revelation.” No matter what we believe we have seen there are probably a hundred different explanations for it, most of which has already been well covered. Another good reason I have not mentioned is what I would call the placebo effect, i.e. the power of ones own belief in something. If you believe strongly enough that you have a generational curse then you probably will need some deliverance, but not from any curse, generational or otherwise, freemasonry or no freemasonry, sinful parents or not.
It is not important to discover whether the causes of problems in our lives have their origin in previous generations. Such a quest can all too easily become a cop out from dealing with the real reasons for these problems or a way of trying to manipulate God into blessing us in certain ways. Or we might be unwilling to face the fact that God is sovereign and may have a reason for allowing some types of suffering in our lives. See 2 Corinthians 12:6-10. Instead we can rest peacefully and secure in the knowledge that God’s plans for our lives and the blessings he has for us are dependent on Him, not ourselves and cannot be thwarted by anyone or anything. Job 42:2.
Some believe that the position of the stars in the sky determines exactly what happens in their life each day and others believe that the position of the tea leaves at the bottom of their tea cup determine their future and yet others the random man made card that comes up will govern their life. Clearly these are all lies from the enemy to keep us from the truth and freedom we have in Christ. As for breaking generational curses and the fear of spoken curses, this comes from the same demonic source. To accept that your life is governed by someone else’s sin in a past life is from the occult world and is not Biblical. Ezekiel 18:19-20 says, “Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. 20 The one who sins is the one who dies. The child will not be punished for the parent's sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child's sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own goodness, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.”
We need to reject as unbiblical any teaching that says that those who put their hope and trust in Christ are likely to be cursed. God has pronounced us blessed. Balaam could not curse God’s blessed people, neither can anyone else. Jeremiah 17:7 reads, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord.” That is the simple version. The false teachers are hopelessly confused and give no hope or assurance. They put us back in bondage, and thus the teachings themselves and their perpetrators are accursed according to God’s Word, Galatians 1:8.
The conclusion has to be that man is making far more of this doctrine than Scripture does and as such it could be dangerous. Unless you want to do the enemy’s work, please be cautious over what you believe and say to other Christians. And please be clear that whatever you believe and teach is built on the firm foundation of Scripture, and not individual Scriptures taken out of context, or word meanings that they did not originally have in Greek or Hebrew. We need not and cannot add to the finished work of Calvary. There is no curse on those who are in Christ. When you encounter people talking about generational curses, tell them how to receive generational blessings. Deuteronomy 7:9 reads, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.” The Blessings are far mightier than the Curse!
Deuteronomy 30:19 reads, “I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God’s blessing and God’s curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life.” The truth is, that everyone is either living under a Blessing or a Curse, either Saved or Unsaved, under Grace or under Law. We hope you have chosen the first in each case. Cast all this nonsense of breaking generational curses from you mind. Satan would love to have you in bondage forever contemplating and tormenting you with it. The Bible tells us Jesus has set you free… So believe it!
Reference endnotes:
John Calvin, Harmony of the Law, Vol. 2, “Exposition of the 2nd Commandment”
Gil Rugh, Demonization of the Believer–An Unbiblical Teaching Exposed. Lincoln, Neb.: Indian Hills Community Church, 1994.
Neil T. Anderson, The Bondage Breaker, (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Ore, 1990)
Mark I. Bubeck, Spiritual Warfare Basics. Sioux City, Iowa: self-published conference booklet, no date
Derek Prince, Blessing or Curse You can Choose, (Grand Rapids: Chosen Books, 1990)
Ron G. Campbell, Free from Freemasonry, (Gospel Light Publications, 1999)
Rebecca Brown and Daniel Yoder, Unbroken Curses, (Whitaker House: New Kensington, PA, 1995)
The Consequences of this False Teaching
Peggy-Sue loved God. Her favourite verse from the Bible was “If God is for me, who can be against me?” She thanked the Lord Jesus daily for his sacrifice that enabled her to come before the Father totally cleansed and pure, through his blood. Life had always had its ups and downs. When things were going well she praised God for his blessings. When she was having problems, she still thanked God for getting her through them, and for helping her to grow and develop as a person and as a Christian. She knew peace and joy in her life, and was comfortable because she felt close to God. She felt like he always had her in the palm of his hand, taking care of her.
Then one day, someone in Church told her that all of the problems that she had had in her life were due to a curse, because her great granddad had been a freemason. She was told that she had a generational curse on her life, and she needed to have deliverance from it. She would be doomed to live under this curse, unless she had prayer and had it broken off.
Suddenly Peggy-Sue felt devastated. She had thought that God was helping her through times of trouble – but now she began to wonder if he had actually been punishing her. She had thought she had a close walk with him, but maybe he hadn’t really been there for her at all. How could a loving Father, let her suffer for something that one of her ancestors had done, that she didn’t even know about? Did that mean that her mum and grandmother had been cursed as well? Maybe that was why her mum had died in a car accident. God was punishing her because there was a curse on her life.
Peggy-Sue struggled for weeks with the ‘revelation’ that she was living under a curse. She was too confused to go for prayer for deliverance. She now doubted that anything she did would work anyway. After all for years she had been under the misconception that she had a good walk with the Lord, and now she had found out that going by what she was told, this wasn’t the case.
Peggy-Sue eventually left the church, totally disillusioned.
The above story is based on a real life situation. The name has been changed.
This story demonstrates just how devastating this wrong teaching on generational curses can be. The Word of God is abundantly clear but if you’re still not convinced after reading this entire document that by God’s grace we are free from generational curses, I hope this story if nothing else will at least encourage you to open your mind enough to seriously consider if the teachings on generational curses should be presented to anyone. If it does not give God glory, but causes people to turn from their faith, and it does not get any more serious than that, we should be questioning it very seriously.